Gifts, Troubles and Treasure

Wise men brought gifts that pointed to who Jesus would be. These foretold of His deity, His purity, and His death and burial. He lived to give His life and is now our Treasure. Face this Treasure and look not on the tribulations that are sure to come. (Matthew 2:11; 2 Corinthians 4:7-8)

Mt. 2:11, We see the wise men that pastor spoke about last week. We don’t know if there were 3 or 300. Tradition says three and gives them names and the names of their kids and wives. Just kidding about the kids and their wives! They did come at the time of his birth and it was significant because their coming and gifts were different. They were significant in that they were foretelling gifts. Gold is an amazing thing. It’s very valuable and gold is the metal of kings. It’s the metal also of deity. Unfortunately many of the pagan gods were made of gold. But also when we look in the Bible, many of the things in the temple, the tabernacle were made of gold, a symbol of divinity. Silver is precious but gold is something special.

Ex 25 Moses describes materials for the Ark of the Covenant. That one article in the tabernacle that represented the presence of God, it was wood but overladen with gold. The mercy seat where God said this is where I will meet you, this was pure gold.

Ex. 25 it says there I will meet you and from there between the two cherubims on the ark of the testimony I will speak with you…. The gift of gold was foretelling. It foretold the gift of God in the flesh. These wise men knew something. Jesus speaks about it. He speaks many will come, when the centurion came to Jesus and Jesus said I’ll come to your house to heal your servant. He said, no, I am a man under authority. Just say the word and he will be healed. He also said he didn’t see faith like that in all of Israel. Jesus said many will come from east and west but the children of Israel don’t recognize him. These are some who came from the east and recognized him in a deep way. They foretold through gifts who Jesus was, God in the flesh. Jesus’ divinity was there for all to see if they were willing to see. They knew who Jesus was. They were willing to travel a long way. Frankincense is the second gift. It’s derived from a certain type of tree. They slash the bark while it’s alive and the tree oozes out a certain type of resin and it hardens in the shape of tears. It’s a potent and fragrant incense.

In Ex 30:34 it was burned as a pure offering to the Lord. It was also mixed with the meal offering.

Mal 1 called a pure offering but offered with grain.

In Lev 2:3 it says it is the most holy of the offerings made to the Lord by fire. It was given to Jesus and foretold his purity and his R. Jesus was willing to become our sacrifice. It’s amazing when you think about it. He was willing to become our burnt offering.

2 Cor 5:21 God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin so we could be made right with God through Christ. That was a foretelling gift. It showed that Jesus would be offering himself for our sin. He would be our sacrifice. He would be a replacement for us. Third gift was the gift of myrrh. Can you say myrrh? Let’s say it. One, two, three…It was the third gift. It’s derived in a similar way as frankincense. When Jesus was on the cross in Mark, it says they offered him wine mixed with myrrh. You can drink myrrh. It was a stupefying gift. It made the wine that much more potent. Jesus rejected it. It was used in embalming. The Pharaoh’s used it in making mummies. Moses used it as anointing oil. He ordered 500 pounds of it to anoint the tabernacle. These are foretelling gifts. As pastor had mentioned perhaps these were sold to provide for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in time in Egypt. Nonetheless they were symbolic of what Jesus would do for us. His life would end bitterly. It represents suffering, bitterness, and affliction. Jesus was wrapped in myrrh. 100 pounds of myrrh Joseph of Arimathea provided to prepare his body for burial.

The Bible says in Isaiah 53 that he was despised and rejected of men. This was 800 years before his death on the cross. He was a man of sorrows which myrrh represents. He was acquainted with grief. He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows. We thought his troubles were punishment from God for his sins. They were not. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was beaten so we can be made whole. Each have turned to their own way and the Lord laid on him the iniquity the sins of us all. When we look at these three gifts, gold representing deity, and frankincense representing his R and purity, his sacrifice for us and myrrh the suffering he would go through. As these gifts were given to Jesus, those gifts transcend to us.

Jesus is our gift from God. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. When you think of these gifts, it shows the gospel and shows Christ did it for us. That’s what Christmas is about. It’s about gifts and all kinds of things. Jesus sells a lot. Cash registers are going crazy at the mall but what Jesus has done is important. They symbolize who he was and what he did for us. Think about the gift of salvation. It’s a beautiful thing. Maybe you are here tonight and never received that gift. He did all of this. It’s not random, some crazy book or fairy tale. God himself became a man and died for you on the cross.

I’ve heard people say pastor or Kim, you don’t know what I have done. God could never forgive me. It’s not true. He’s not waiting for us to build a ladder to heaven and try to earn our salvation. If our R doesn’t exceed the R of the fairies, Pharisees, you’ll never have eternal life. Them, too! You can take all the wood in the world and try to build the highest ladder to heaven, but you will never reach it, but I believe on the one who died on the wood for salvation.

P. Scibelli

2 Cor. 4:7 says Paul is speaking to the Corinthian church. A lot of direction in their life and he had to address it continuously in the first epistle. He said we have to hold this treasure. This treasure is holding us. We have to hold a treasure in an earthen vessel that the excellency of the power is not of us. We are troubled on every side. Ever experience any trouble? Anyone here? It’s PHLIPSIS, it means pressure on the outside. WE are in a narrow place being squeezed. As often as believers we tend to focus on the trouble. The trouble on how many sides? No sleeping tonight. You have a problem with your job. And a problem with family, your finances your health. It goes round and round. Trouble on every side. Yet we are not to focus on the trouble. We are to focus on who is on the inside. We have the treasure and then there is the trouble. If I’m always thinking of the trouble, I never experience a relationship with the treasure. If I’m receiving from the treasure, when I receive the trouble it’s as though it’s not existing.

Mt 2 those two words mentioned. In 3rd verse all of Jerusalem was troubled. In the midst of it there was one who was the treasure. He was right there and he is the treasure. If I’m going to focus on the treasure I may not be too much affected by the trouble. There is always this trouble and we mentally thinking about it and we forget about he who is the treasure. Can you imagine the treasure Jesus Christ was to Moses?

Heb 4:24, 27 he could turn his back on the treasures of Egypt because he endured seeing him who was invisible. He saw the treasure. He understood who the treasure was so the treasures of Egypt could not control him. We heard about that with Abraham. I have lifted my hand to the Most High God. You can’t give me a shoe lace, a shoe latchet. I got the treasure. Don’t trouble me with all the other stuff. King of Sodom is still around just with a different manifestation. Always trying to dangle something in front of people. Satan is a trouble maker. I like opening the treasure. Remember when you were young and got up and opened up your presents. I used to go down 2:30 in the morning. I started ripping everything open before I was supposed to. Sometimes for me there were things I didn’t really want. The excitement of opening up a treasure. This is the treasure of the person of God. The character and nature of who he is. Unto you who believe, he is precious. The preciousness of Christ. How precious was he to Jacob when he was transformed into Israel?

How precious Jesus must have been to the Mark 5 man with the thousands of demons and they are cast out. Go tell how the Lord had compassion on you. The woman at well fellowshipping with the treasure. Mary Magdalene understanding who the treasure was. We have a treasure.

Mt. 6:19-21, don’t layup things on earth where moth and dust corrupt. Where the treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Mt 13:44, find the treasure and buy the field. We have an amazing treasure in the earthen vessel.

Speaking of:

1) the God man

2) The treasure of the church. The treasure of the Body of Christ. Is God himself a treasure? How about the Body? Do I see the treasure or the trouble? See the treasure rather than the trouble. Look at the person next to you and say you are an amazing treasure. You’re a treasure. The Body of Christ is a treasure. It’s amazing how in many places people can take or leave church. And the Body is not a treasure to fellowship with, to engage with. To be around the treasure. This is the one new man. It’s amazing how Satan can allure people away from churches. He has all kinds of devices just to draw people away to distract them from him who is the treasure and where it resides.

3) The treasure of the Gospel where people can become brand new. I was saying to someone overseas, we are ordaining our second person in the Far East. I was signing the ordination. What an amazing treasure this person is. This gospel message is the treasure. Friday night where? Inner Harbor. I can say I don’t think I’ve ever been there. This will be the first time. Maybe once. I wouldn’t know how to get there. What are we doing there? Are we looking at the buildings and sites or looking for a treasure? Lost souls, people that can say yes to Jesus Christ and not be occupied with the trouble.

I got some interesting news for you. In this world you shall have tribulation. Here’s a promise from God. Standing on the promises of God. You might have? Could have? In this world you shall have PHLIPSIS, tribulation. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Forget about the trouble. It will happen until we go home to be with the Lord. Don’t face the trouble, face the treasure. Think we’ll have trouble in the Christian school, P. Barry? Fellowship with the treasure and the trouble will seem like not there at all.

Seeing situations around the world and we remind people and encourage people and establish people and minister to people with the treasure. They receive the treasure in the trouble. The trouble seems to float away. We have to hold this treasure in an earthen vessel that the excellency of God is not of us.

Thank God for the treasure of the person of Christ, the Body of Christ and the gospel. These are not for sale. So easy to get distracted from these three treasures and find ourselves floating some place and not have any idea of what is going on.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.